University of Oulu
The University of Oulu (Finnish: Oulun yliopisto) is one of the largest universities in Finland, located in the city of Oulu. It was founded on July 8, 1958. The university has around 16,000 students and 3,000 staff. It is ranked in the Academic Ranking of World Universities as the second best university in Finland along with the University of Turku[2] and between 303 and 401 worldwide.[3]
History
- 1919 Oulu College Association was founded to manage the establishment of a university in the town
- 1958 Oulu University Act
- 1959 Activities begin. Faculty of Philosophy (programs in biology and mathematics), Faculty of Technology (architecture, civil and industrial engineering) and Oulu Teaching School
- 1960 Faculty of Medicine
- 1965 Teaching begins in humanities
- 1965 Departments of Electrical Engineering and Machine Engineering added to the Faculty of Technology
- 1972 The Faculty of Humanities and the Faculty of Natural Sciences founded with the division of the Faculty of Philosophy
- 1974 Faculty of Education
- 1985 Professorship in Telecommunications Technology established at the Faculty of Technology
- 1994 Biotechnology, Information Technology and Northern Issues defined as focus areas
- 2000 Founding of the Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
- 2006 Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre
- 2007 Oulu Mining School
- 2008 Martti Ahtisaari Institute of Global Business and Economics
- 2009 Center for Internet Excellence (CIE)
- 2010 New University Act, new focus areas
- 2011 Center of Microscopy and Nanotechnology founded by joining the Micro- and Nanotechnology Centre and the Institute for Electron Microscopy
- 2011 University of Oulu Graduate School (from 1.8.2011)
Education
Campuses
There are four campus areas:
- The main campus is located in Linnanmaa, about 5 kilometres (3 mi) north of Oulu city centre. It includes five faculties, Infotech Oulu, Thule Institute, Giellagas Institute, Martti Ahtisaari Institute, Centre for Wireless Communications (CWC), Centre for Advanced Steel Research (CASR), Center of Microscopy and Nanotechnology, Botanical Gardens and Museum, Zoological Museum, Geological Museum and two science libraries (Pegasus and Tellus).
- Faculty of Medicine has its own campus area and it is fully integrated in the regional hospital 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) southeast from the city center, Kontinkangas, Oulu. Clinical Research Centre (CRC), Welltech Oulu and the Medical Library are also located there.
- The third campus area is located in Kajaani, about 185 kilometres (115 mi) southeast of Oulu.
- Department of Architecture which is located in the center of Oulu
The University has a number of research stations and shared locations, most notably:
Faculties
The University of Oulu is divided into six faculties (from the biggest to the smallest when measured by the number of students):
Faculty of Technology
- Department of Architecture
- Department of Mechanical Engineering
- Department of Process and Environmental Engineering
- Department of Electrical Engineering
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering
- Department of Telecommunications Engineering
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Management
Faculty of Science
- Department of Biochemistry
- Department of Biology
- Department of Chemistry
- Department of Geography
- Department of Geology
- Department of Information Processing Science
- Department of Mathematical Sciences
- Department of Physics
Faculty of Humanities
Degree programmes:
- Archaeology
- Cultural anthropology
- English philology
- Finnish language
- German philology
- History
- History of ideas and science
- Information studies
- Literature
- Logopedics
- Nordic philology
- Saami culture
- Saami language
Faculty of Medicine
Institute of Biomedicine
- Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology
- Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
- Department of Physiology
- Department of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
- Department of Medical Technology
Institute of Diagnostics
- Department of Clinical Chemistry
- Department of Medical Microbiology
- Department of Forensic Medicine
- Department of Pathology
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology
Institute of Dentistry
Institute of Clinical Medicine
- Department of Anaesthesiology
- Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
- Department of Dermatology and Venereology
- Department of Surgery
- Department of Otolaryngology
- Department of Pediatrics
- Department of Neurosurgery
- Department of Neurology
- Department of Clinical Genetics
- Department of Psychiatry
- Department of Ophthalmology
- Department of Internal Medicine
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
- Department of Oncology and Radiotherapy
Institute of Health Sciences
- Department of Nursing Science and Health Administration
- Department of Public Health Science and General Practice
Faculty of Education
Degree programmes:
- Primary Teacher Education
- Intercultural Teacher Education
- Technology Oriented Primary Teacher Education
- Arts and Crafts Oriented Primary Teacher Education
- Early Education
- Music Education
- Educational sciences
- Education and Globalisation
- Teacher Education for Swedish Language Immersion
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
- Department of Economics
- Department of Accounting and Finance
- Department of Marketing
- Department of Management
International Cooperation
University of Oulu aims to promote mobility among its students. It takes part in a number of international exchange programmes, such as Erasmus Programme (Europe), Nordplus (Nordic Countries), FIRST (Russia), ISEP and International to International ISEP (USA, South America, Asia), UNC-EP (USA), north2north (USA, Canada, Russia, Nordic Countries), North-South-South (Africa). Besides, University of Oulu has about 50 bilateral agreements with partner universities around the world.
International Master's degree programmes
The official language of teaching is Finnish. There are also 15 international Master's degree programmes which are offered fully in English:
- Architectural Design
- Astronomy and Space Physics
- Barents Environmental Engineering (BEE)
- Education and Globalisation (EdGlo)
- Ecology and Population Genetics (ECOGEN)
- Finance
- Financial and Management Accounting (FMA)
- Health and Wellbeing in the Circumpolar Area
- International Business (IB)
- Learning, Education and Technology (LET)
- Magnetic Resonance in Materials (MRM)
- Protein Science and Biotechnology
- Software, Systems and Services Development in Global Environment (GS3D)
- Synchrotron Radiation Based Science and Accelerator Physics
- Wireless Communications Engineering (WCE)
The application procedure to the Master’s programmes varies according to the programme. There is only one application period per academic year. The university uses an online application system and the application period is open for two to three months.
Each Master’s programme has its own specific admissions requirements. In general, to apply for Master’s level studies in the University of Oulu applicants are required to hold a Bachelor’s level degree with good or excellent merits from a higher education institution which entitles you to apply for Master’s level studies in their home country and have a good command of English.
Research
University works in 70 research areas.[4] At the same time, four focus research areas are:
- Information Technology (Machine vision and ubiquitous computing technologies, Wireless communications, High-speed electronics and photonics, Biomedical engineering, Information systems and software)[5]
- Biosciences and Health (Cell-extracellular matrix research, Cardiovascular disease research, Enzyme structure and metabolic research, Genes and the environment)
- Cultural Identity and Interaction (Cultural Identity and Interaction; Language, education and interaction)
- Environment, Natural Resources and Materials (Environmental issues, natural resources and energy economy; materials science, properties and behaviour of matter, catalysts and material innovations; modelling and computational science)[6]
New initiatives involve advanced steel research, international business, mining and mineral engineering and science-based education.
The University of Oulu is known among hackers as the home of the Internet Relay Chat and for the File Transfer Protocol server x2ftp, named after the basement / blast shelter area in which it was physically located. x2ftp gained its reputation among video game developers and members of the demoscene for containing a very good archive of information pertaining to low-level graphics programming.
Notable alumni
- Martti Ahtisaari, M.Sc., former President of Finland, Nobel Peace Prize laureate (2008)[7]
- Jarkko Oikarinen, D.Sc., the developer of Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
- Leena Palotie, D.Sc., professor, geneticist[8]
- Jussi Pesonen, M.Sc. (Tech.), CEO of UPM-Kymmene Oyj
- Seppo Säynäjäkangas, D.Sc. (Tech.), professor, inventor of portable heart rate monitor and CEO of Polar Electro.
- Sakari Orava, D.Sc., professor, surgeon specializing in sports related injuries. Famous for operating surgeries on many top athletes such as David Beckham.
- John Koivukangas, Ph.D., professor of neurosurgery, developer of Neuronavigator.
- Lasse Lehtinen, Ph.D., former Member of the Finnish Parliament and former Member of the European Parliament.
- Tero Ojanperä, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of Nokia Corporation.
- Juha Hulkko, M.Sc. (Eng.), founder of Elektrobit Corporation.
University of Oulu alumni body is over 40,000. The University of Oulu alumni can meet and stay in contact with their alma mater at the alumni network
Student's life
Student union
Student Union of the University of Oulu[9] (Finnish: Oulun yliopiston ylioppilaskunta; OYY) provides services to and supervises the interests of all undergraduate degree students in the University of Oulu. All Bachelor's and Master's degree students in the University of Oulu belong to the Student Union. By paying the Student Union membership fee students are entitled for a student card which allows them to get student services and discounts. This way, students get inexpensive or free medical and dental care from Finnish Student Health Services,[10] (Finnish: Ylioppilaiden terveydenhoitosäätiö; YTHS) traveling discounts in trains and buses, student meals reduction etc.
Student guilds
There is a number of students organizations or so called student guilds[11] presented within the university. They cover a variety of interests. Guilds arrange various info events, gettogethers, parties, trips, sports events and often have their own room in the university where students can have coffee, use computers, meet people, play video games or watch TV etc. Each student guild also has its own overalls, with their specific colour. Students usually wear overalls for various parties and outside activities to create a certain feeling of togetherness.
Student housing
Student Housing Foundation of Northern Finland[12] (Finnish: Pohjois-Suomen opiskelija-asuntosäätiö; PSOAS) is the leading provider of student accommodation in Oulu. The organization operates on a foundation basis which ensures affordable rents for students. Following its mission, PSOAS offers housing services for people studying in Oulu as cheaply as possible.
During the year 2011 PSOAS intends to build a new international student house right next to its housing office in downtown Oulu. The house will be accommodated both by international degree students and Finnish students. The main purpose of the new building is to support the internationalization of Oulu and give the international students a better access to Finnish culture and local people. The premises will also support these efforts: More space will be dedicated for casual get-togethers and an international café of high level will be serving both Finnish and foreign customers.[13]
See also
References
External links
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